Let it be known that the sport of men’s curling isn’t just a game for the grizzled veterans of rinks past. It’s happening slowly, but new faces and bodies are moving themselves in to the competition circuit to mix it up with the usual suspects.

It’s happening with Leduc’s Karsten Sturmay. It’s happening with Calgary’s Scott Garnett. And it’s happening with Nanton’s Jeremy Harty, who plys his trade out of The Glencoe Club in Cowtown. Harty, currently preparing for his third trip to the Boston Pizza Cup men’s provincials in Edmonton, and his rink have put together a decent year that has led to them to this moment and qualifying once more for competition.

“It’s been pretty good. We got our first WCT win in Airdrie in November. We just got back from Arizona this week where we qualified for playoffs and then lost to Reid Carruthers in the quarterfinals. It was a pretty good week for us,” said Harty of his season.

“We’re feeling pretty good. Everyone is feeling pretty good going into that weekend. If everyone can just keep playing the way they’ve been playing then we have a good chance of qualifying,”

It won’t be the first rodeo for Team Harty — which is rounded out by third Kyler Kleibrink of Okotoks, childhood friend Joel Berger and lead Kurtis Goller, who joined the group last season — and they’ve had plenty of positive experiences from the last few years while getting their feet wet in this kind of highly competitive scenario.

“They’ve been great. Both years we got a couple wins so we were able to play in the night draws,” said Harty.

“We’ve played some of the top teams and it’s fun to play out in front of the crowds. This year it’s in a curling club but I think they still have people out on the ice. It’s fun when you can hear them cheering for you and cheering for good shots.”

The pressure will be low for curling’s kids, as they have a feeling that no one will have any strong feeling of them making a run for the provincial crown, which, as Harty explains, isn’t always a negative in some regards.

“I don’t know if many people expect us to beat them. It’s just fun to go and try to underdog it and maybe get an upset if we play good. It’s fun either way to get the experience of playing with them,”

“It’s gonna be tough this year. We’ve got Team Koe and Team Bottcher and I think Team Koe is ranked #1 and Bottcher is fifth in the world right now, but it’ll be fun to get to play them if we do. Try to see how we compare.”

Despite the relaxed attitude and the plus side of being able to compete with and learn from Alberta’s large collection of great curlers, Harty still had a very strong confidence in his rink and their ability to keep building on what they started with when he and Berger started playing together when they were kids.

“I knew that if we stuck together after juniors that we would have a pretty good chance at making it to men’s provincials,” said Harty.

“It’s been a little tricky to get into the World Curling Tour events and have consistent performances. I like that we’re heading in the right direction and starting to get more consistency. Less blowout games, more close games against all the men’s teams.”

Don’t let the fresh faces fool you and keep an eye on Team Harty. Who knows? Someone, at some point, as to take over for the Koe’s and the Bottcher’s of the world.

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